Chinese Women Head Overseas to Freeze Their Eggs

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A women’s egg being prepared for in vitro fertilization in Beijing. Because unmarried women are barred from assisted reproductive procedures in China, more are going to the United States and other countries to have their eggs frozen.CreditCreditAndy Wong/Associated Press

By Carolyn Zhang

Aug. 30, 2016

BEIJING — The anesthesia was administered, and Lu Yi gradually lost consciousness. Over the next 30 minutes, a doctor retrieved eight eggs from her body. They were transferred to a liquid nitrogen storage chamber, where the fragile bubbles of human potential entered a frozen future full of hope and uncertainty.

Ms. Lu has a business degree from Stanford University and founded a company in Shanghai that connects Chinese cancer patients with American medical specialists. But like many other women, she has found it difficult to pursue both career and family.

“I knew at some point I might want to have children, but definitely not now,” said Ms. Lu, who is single.

So last year, at the age of 34, she decided to have her eggs frozen. China prohibits fertility treatments for unmarried women, so she underwent the procedure in California, joining the growing number of single Chinese women going abroad to have their eggs frozen as a way to preserve an option and control the pace of their lives.

That there even was such an option was unknown to much of the Chinese public until last year, when the actress Xu Jinglei posted on Weibo that she had gone to the United States to have her eggs frozen in 2013.

“It was the first time that many of us learned that this technology exists,” Ms. Lu said. “We thought, if she can do it, why can’t I?”

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, assisted reproductive technologies are denied to “single women and couples who are not in line with the nation’s population and family planning regulations.” Even married women must provide proof of marriage, a license to give birth and evidence either of infertility or of medical treatments that could impair fertility, such as chemotherapy.

The restrictions have been driven in part by population controls that have been in place since 1979. The recent easing of those controls, allowing all families two children, do not apply to unmarried women.

“There is still a lack of enthusiasm for reproductive technologies, because the government is worried about the negative impact on its population policies, and possible problems like a black market for human eggs,” said Wang Hongxia, a researcher at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences specializing in urban and demographic development. “So the solution was to ban them at the cost of reproductive rights for certain groups, like unmarried women.”

In addition, Ms. Wang said, “The idea of women having babies out of wedlock is in conflict with the sense of moral order within the society.”

Ms. Xu’s account of her own experience set off a public debate in China over access to fertility treatments. CCTV, the state broadcaster, responded to her statement with a six-minute segment on egg-freezing that reiterated the restrictions. But a Weibo poll conducted after the show attracted more than 83,000 respondents, with nearly 80 percent voting against the ban on egg freezing for unmarried women.

Determined single women circumvent the law the way Ms. Xu did: by leaving China. “Regulations simply cannot stop people from going elsewhere,” Ms. Lu said.

Among them is Ye Qinmin, 39, an interior designer in Shanghai who had her eggs frozen at a reproductive clinic in Canada. “The government shouldn’t have a say about my ovaries just because I’m not married,” she said.

Medical consultancies have begun to capitalize on this trend, bridging the gap between Chinese citizens and foreign fertility clinics.

“We’ve seen a 10 to 15 percent annual increase in demand for services in the U.S. in the last three years,” said Yang Jie, the marketing director of Travel Healthcare, an agency in Shanghai that cooperates with Oregon Reproductive Medicine. The agency assists clients with visa applications, airport pickups, housing, translators, even Mandarin-speaking drivers. “Whatever our clients need, we will arrange for them,” Ms. Yang said.

She added that Travel Healthcare also held seminars and promoted its services to employees of major companies in Shanghai.

Some American clinics have also set up offices in China. Six doctors at HRC Fertility, a California-based chain of clinics, established Mengmei, which now has offices in 10 Chinese cities. Its website reads: “We offer reproductive services to L.G.B.T.s, H.I.V. patients and single women to help them achieve their dreams.”

“Most of our clients are affluent and well-educated Chinese women in their 30s,’’ said Deng Xuyang, Mengmei’s chief executive. “They are open enough to seek the service and can afford it.” In the United States, egg freezing typically costs between $11,000 and $16,000, and annual storage fees range from $450 to $600.

“We partner with different companies to reach out to potential clients,” Mr. Deng said. “We also work with real estate groups to combine open houses abroad with visits to our clinics.’’

According to data from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, 33 out of 51 clinics in California provide services tailored to Chinese clients, such as documents and websites in Chinese, and Chinese-speaking staff.

However, the rising popularity of the procedure among women like Ms. Lu has not yet matched its outcomes.

According to Dr. Kevin Doody, the society’s president-elect, from 2009 to 2014, the number of egg-freezing cycles in the United States rose from 568 to 6,165. For this same five-year period, however, the live birthrate from thawed eggs was just below 24 percent, he said in an interview. Both the quality and quantity of a woman’s eggs decline over time, especially after the age of 34. And the procedure can have side effects.

Ms. Lu was in the 1 percent of patients who experienced ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome from the medication that promotes egg growth. “I looked like I was eight months pregnant by the end of day five,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if I would be able to continue. But I kept telling myself, I must go on, I will go on.”

Ms. Lu chronicled her experiences on WeChat, the microblog service, and received more than 100,000 views. She also set up a group chat with more than 100 Chinese women who were either considering or were in the process of having their eggs frozen.

“We share information, support each other,’’ Ms. Lu said. “Some even go to the U.S. together for the procedure.”

For now, Ms. Lu continues to focus on her company, while holding onto the thought that she has bought herself more time to attend to her personal life. Looking back on her decision to freeze her eggs, she said, “It changed nothing and everything.”